INDONESIA
Aftershocks rock Malukus
The Maluku Islands yesterday were hit by scores of aftershocks after an earthquake on Sunday killed at least two people. Rescue teams were struggling to reach parts of the area hit by the magnitude 7.2 quake, due to its remote location, warning that the death toll could rise. The quake hit at a shallow depth of 10km on the southern part of Halmahera in the North Malukus. About 2,000 people had been displaced, while at least 58 houses had been damaged, Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Agus Wibowo told reporters in Jakarta. As of yesterday afternoon, 66 aftershocks had been recorded, he said.
PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Security being boosted
Authorities have boosted security to prevent a further escalation of tribal violence, after at least 24 people were killed last week in Hela Province, officials said yesterday. The killings of women and children marked a deadly departure from a cycle of killing in which the vulnerable are usually off limits. Police Minister Bryan Kramer said immediate intervention was needed in Hela to prevent the latest bout of violence becoming the new norm. He said the massacre of women and children was “the worst pay back killing in our country’s history.” A defence force platoon and a mobile police squad had been stationed at a local primary school “to provide around the clock security, to prevent any further escalation of violence,” and authorities would use “drone technology and satellite surveillance” to track down the perpetrators, he added.
DENMARK
Humanitarian aid drying up
A leading advocacy group for refugees yesterday that with half of the year gone, humanitarian organizations have received only 27 percent of the money needed to provide relief to people affected by crises worldwide this year. Norwegian Refugee Council secretary-general Jan Egeland said “the current lack of funding is alarming.” Egeland said a total of US$26 billion is required this year to provide relief for about 94 million people in need. However, donor countries have contributed only US$7 billion, or US$2 billion less than for the same period last year, he said, citing the UN’s financial tracking service. “Let’s not be fooled into believing that the amount needed is too high or the job too difficult. It is a question of priorities,” Egeland said. The world’s total military expenditure last year increased to “a whopping $1.8 trillion,” citing figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. “The cost of closing the humanitarian funding gap and providing people with basic support equals to just about 1 percent of this,” he said.
AUSTRALIA
Student’s body found
The body of a man, believed to be the missing Indian student Poshik Sharma, was found yesterday morning in regional Victoria. Sharma, 21, was reported missing after he left the Duck Inn about 4:30pm on Thursday. Police said his death was not being treated as suspicious. Meanwhile, New South Wales police announced that human bones discovered last month near Port Macquarie belonged to Erwan Ferrieux, a 21-year-old French national who went missing along with his British friend Hugo Palmer in February. “We believe from the DNA comparisons that it belongs to Erwan Ferrieux,” Superintendent Paul Fehon said. Another human bone was discovered in the same area on Sunday, but police said it was too early to say whether it belonged to either Ferrieux or Palmer.
GUATEMALA
Court blocks border meeting
The Constitutional Court late on Sunday granted an injunction blocking President Jimmy Morales from signing a migration deal with the US that would oblige it to offer asylum to migrants heading to the US border. Morales, who was under pressure at home not to seal the deal, earlier on Sunday called off White House talks with US President Donald Trump with just a day to spare, his office announced. The meeting scheduled for yesterday in Washington was pushed back due to “speculation” about the signing of a possible deal and to await the decision of the court on legal actions filed over it, the government said in a statement. The court said any such agreement should first be approved by Congress.
UNITED KINGDOM
May boogies to ABBA
Prime Minister Theresa May boogied away one of her last weekends as prime minister, showing off some of her famously awkward dance moves to ABBA hits such as Dancing Queen and Mamma Mia at a festival. In a video clip, she is shown dancing at the Henley Festival as her husband and other men in black tie swing their arms to the tunes.
FRANCE
Hundreds arrested in unrest
A total of 282 people were arrested on Sunday evening after unrest following the Algerian soccer team’s qualification for the final of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday. Riotous celebrations erupted across the nation after Algeria beat Nigeria 2-1 in the semi-final. Unruly scenes erupted in Paris, Marseille and Lyon. Fifty people were arrested in Paris and there were incidents between soccer fans and police on the Champs-Elysees avenue. Dozens of cars were torched overnight in Lyon. Minister of the Interior Christophe Castaner yesterday congratulated police and firefighters for their “speedy reaction and professionalism which contained the violence and to the perpetrators” being apprehended.
UNITED STATES
Groups protest telescope
Native Hawaiian groups vowed to protect Hawaii’s tallest mountain, Mauna Kea, from an attempt to resume construction yesterday of a giant telescope. The road to the summit was to be closed yesterday morning as trucks carrying construction equipment start to make their way to the peak. The planned building site is considered sacred by some Native Hawaiians. State officials said anyone breaking the law would be arrested. Protests in 2015 ended in arrests and crews pulling back. However, Hawaii’s Supreme Court has ruled the construction is legal, permits are in place and the state has given the company behind the telescope a green light to resume its efforts.
FRANCE
Chess player suspended
The International Chess Federation on Friday said it has suspended a player at a tournament after the man was “caught red-handed using his phone during a game.” The federation said on Twitter that all the evidence in the case of Igors Rausis had been sent to its ethics committee and that it was “determined to fight cheating in chess.” Rausis is a 58-year-old Latvian-Czech player who won the grandmaster title in 1992 and has over the years represented Latvia, Bangladesh and the Czech Republic. Federation director-general Emil Sutovsky wrote on Facebook that Rausis had long been under suspicion for cheating and that catching him was “merely the first shot” in a years-long battle against cheating.
The collapse of the Swiss Birch glacier serves as a chilling warning of the escalating dangers faced by communities worldwide living under the shadow of fragile ice, particularly in Asia, experts said. Footage of the collapse on Wednesday showed a huge cloud of ice and rubble hurtling down the mountainside into the hamlet of Blatten. Swiss Development Cooperation disaster risk reduction adviser Ali Neumann said that while the role of climate change in the case of Blatten “still needs to be investigated,” the wider impacts were clear on the cryosphere — the part of the world covered by frozen water. “Climate change and
Packed crowds in India celebrating their cricket team’s victory ended in a deadly stampede on Wednesday, with 11 mainly young fans crushed to death, the local state’s chief minister said. Joyous cricket fans had come out to celebrate and welcome home their heroes, Royal Challengers Bengaluru, after they beat Punjab Kings in a roller-coaster Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket final on Tuesday night. However, the euphoria of the vast crowds in the southern tech city of Bengaluru ended in disaster, with Indian Prime Minister Narendra calling it “absolutely heartrending.” Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah said most of the deceased are young, with 11 dead
Poland is set to hold a presidential runoff election today between two candidates offering starkly different visions for the country’s future. The winner would succeed Polish President Andrzej Duda, a conservative who is finishing his second and final term. The outcome would determine whether Poland embraces a nationalist populist trajectory or pivots more fully toward liberal, pro-European policies. An exit poll by Ipsos would be released when polls close today at 9pm local time, with a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points. Final results are expected tomorrow. Whoever wins can be expected to either help or hinder the
DENIAL: Musk said that the ‘New York Times was lying their ass off,’ after it reported he used so much drugs that he developed bladder problems Elon Musk on Saturday denied a report that he used ketamine and other drugs extensively last year on the US presidential campaign trail. The New York Times on Friday reported that the billionaire adviser to US President Donald Trump used so much ketamine, a powerful anesthetic, that he developed bladder problems. The newspaper said the world’s richest person also took ecstasy and mushrooms, and traveled with a pill box last year, adding that it was not known whether Musk also took drugs while heading the so-called US Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) after Trump took power in January. In a
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